A sprawling epic of family, faith, power and oil, THERE WILL BE BLOOD is set on the incendiary frontier of California?s turn-of-the-century petroleum boom. The story chronicles the life and times of one Daniel Plainview (D... more &raquoaniel Day-Lewis), who transforms himself from a down-and-out silver miner raising a son on his own into a self-made oil tycoon. When Plainview gets a mysterious tip-off that there?s a little town out West where an ocean of oil is oozing out of the ground, he heads with his son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), to take their chances in dust-worn Little Boston. In this hardscrabble town, where the main excitement centers around the holy roller church of charismatic preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), Plainview and H.W. make their lucky strike. But even as the well raises all of their fortunes, nothing will remain the same as conflicts escalate and every human value ? love, hope, community, belief, ambition and even the bond between father and son ? is imperiled by corruption, deception and the flow of oil.&laquo less

Member Movie Reviews

I was pretty impressed with this movie and the acting of Daniel Day-Lewis and the great sets. It was pretty rough at times and the ending was not what I expected. Definitely worth a watch.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Daniel A. (Daniel) from EUGENE, OR Reviewed on 2/8/2010...

The acting was superb with a strong setting, but aside from fleshing out the protagonist, the film didn't really have anything to say. That said, this has everything else one can look for in a film.

1 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

Cara F. (dichten) from PRT WASHINGTN, WI Reviewed on 11/1/2009...

Within the first fourteen and a half minutes alone one should be able to decide if they will care for this film, as those first fourteen and a half minutes are bereft of dialogue. Save for a few grunts and wails, not a single word is spoken. Why? Because this is a thinking man's movie. One must watch the beginning of this film and pick up on the not so subtle brush strokes of Theme.

Greed. The lust for money, money as power, power corrupting absolutely. From the first, foreboding screech of the violins which thrust us into "There Will Be Blood" we know to watch for the coming darkness -- and, boy, does that darkness creep.

Daniel Day-Lewis brings a masterful performance to this film. The kind of performance which seeps slowly but powerfully, growing ever stronger until that final, climactic moment. This man wields his monumental ability with a skewed grace and killing beauty. He is an actor whose breed is shockingly rare, an endangered species.

Paul Dano is remarkable as Eli Sunday, a preacher whose morals are corrupt at best, appearing black and slick as the oil Daniel is drilling. Dano does not play this role, but consumes it. He becomes Eli, to such a point where it is shocking to me that he was not even nominated for an Oscar. As the film progresses, the insanity and crookedness in Eli, and Daniel, abound and one has to ask: who is good and who is evil?

Without writing an entire synopsis of the film (and giving the entire thing away), I'll conclude with this:

This movie is a beast -- not in length, but in its unrelenting power. It is not for the lighthearted or for anyone who neither appreciates nor understands allegory. This is not a movie plopped into the DVD player to kill time, or to birth background noise for a poker game. This is not something to watch, either, but to experience.

And then when it ends, when it has left you low and bruised and in a marvelous state of awe -- play it again. That's what I did at least, and if you only need to hear one thing let it be that I loved this movie so much that I watched it twice in rapid succession.

3 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

Pat B. from HOUSTON, TX Reviewed on 8/30/2009...

If you have an interest in the oil industry, U.S. history, or the brilliance of Daniel Day Lewis, this is the film for you!

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Vanessa V. (sevenspiders) Reviewed on 9/15/2008...

This movie will be known as one of the greats, one for the ages. Like other great films; Citizen Kane, 2001: A Space Odyssey etc, it is not for everyone. The pacing is deliberate, the characters complicated, the music bizarre, the moral of the story cloudy. But what a story.

We follow the career of Daniel Plainview- misanthrope, miser, oil-man- as he gains a fortune and loses everything that makes it worth having. Daniel Day-Lewis' performance is astounding, one of the most complete transformations in modern cinema. He perfectly captures the few moments of peace and humanity that Plainview has before rejecting human-kind as imperfect. And Paul Dano as Plainveiw's nemesis, the self-made (or self-deluded) preacher Eli, holds his own against the veteran actor. On one level, There Will Be Blood can be seen as the struggle between religion and capitalism, a clash of the titans with Plainview and Eli locked in a battle from which neither can back down. Very few films create such perfectly crafted characters with such real, moving and dramatic conflict between them. Their battle is at once epic and relatable as they continue to one-up the other in a series of betrayals and humiliations.

With such over-the-top performances, the whole movie could easily have degenerated into a camp-fest, but the restraint and calm of the cinematography and the deliberate pacing balances everything. Under the painstaking direction of Paul Thomas Anderson the film becomes a series of peaks and valleys, with periods of peace and violence as perfect as a Beethoven symphony.

But again, Beethoven isn't for everyone. And if none of the above appeals to you, by all means, please skip it. At nearly three hours it would be a painful experience to anyone who wasn't in the mood for it. I was awed by There Will Be Blood, I think its one of the greatest American films ever made. But its not the movie for a night of relaxing in front of the tv. There's a time for mindless entertainment, and a time for something more. When you want something more- then give There Will Be Blood a try.

4 of 5 member(s) found this review helpful.

Movie Reviews

Great movie, disappointing DVD special edition--5 star movie

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 04/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When is a "Collector's Edition" not a collector's edition? When the second disc barely has an one hour's worth of additional featurettes and other extras. "There Will Be Blood" deserved to be recognized as one of the finest films from last year. That's not to say the film is perfect but its flaws are pretty easy to overlook because of Paul Thomas Anderson's sweeping and ambitious storytelling. I'd recommend the single disc edition as the "Collector's Edition" doesn't have all that much in the way of extras. The single disc edition is really all you need even though it doesn't have ANY extras.

The packaging for this set is horrible (which I could forgive if the discs weren't scratched up in the process). How did this get past the marketing department at Paramount?

"There Will Be Blood" based on Upton Sinclair's novel OIL! gives us two portraits of two very different men both ruled by their own obsession--Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis in his Oscar winning role who seems to be channeling John Huston from the film "Chinatown")an oil man who in spite of his impressive skills as a smooth talking salesman, doesn't like people very much (aside from his son H.W. which he uses to help sell people that his is "a family business") and Eli Sunday (Paul Dano)a smooth talking healer and leader of the Church of the Third Relevation. Both men want wealth and power for Plainview its a means to escape. While Sunday sees the oil leaking out of the ground of his father's ranch to gather a flock, reach out with his message and, in turn, gain the power that he believes he deserves. The two men don't get along from the moment they meet--Eli is on to Daniel's "plain speaking" way of doing business and getting something for next to nothing and Daniel believes that Eli is a charlatan. In their own way each is a hard nosed uncompromising businessman with visions that don't mesh.

The DVD:

Robert Elswit's cinematography deservedly won an Oscar for the film and while the DVD transfer looks good, the night sequences are a bit murky and dark. Detail overall is pretty good with a color scheme that accurately captures the theatrical look of the film.

Audio sounds terrific nicely reproducing Johnny Greenwood's score.

There are no extras on the first disc which has a menu as plain as Daniel's view of the world. The second disc features a vintage silent featurette that runs about 27 minutes and uses Greenwood's score to accompany it. It tells the "story" of oil and shows us how oilmen hunted for it and brought it to market.

We also get "15 Minutes" a collection of vintage stills from the era taken around oil sites, behind-the-scenes footage and various clips showing all the work that Anderson and his crew put into researching the film. It's a silent segment accompanied by music and lasts, yep, just over 15 minutes.

Next up we two deleted scenes that last nearly ten minutes. Under three minutes "Dallies Gone Wild" is an alternate take of the restaurant scene involving Daniel, his son H.W. and employees of Standard Oil.

We also get the teaser for the film and the original theatrical trailer both of which remind me of the lost art of crafting a great trailer that will pull in an audience without giving away too much. All things considered, this is a disappointing "Collector's Edition" even with the awkward collectable packaging that is included (where the discs slide inside) and would be prone to damage with time.

Conclusion: A powerful, terrific film and one of the ten best from 2007, "There Will Be Blood" appears in a disappointing special edition from Paramount. The film looks fine and the soundtrack is brilliantly rendered which should be enough to get fans to purchase the single disc DVD and that's what I would recommend.

The extras on disc two of the "Collector's Edition" are slim pickings to say the least. It's as if Paramount rushed to pull this material together in light of the Academy Award nominations and wins the film scored. They are very disappointing for a two disc edition and I can't strongly recommend the two disc edition based on this. If you just want the film, go for the single disc edition and wait to see what the Blu-ray comes packs in the way of special features.

A reminder...Voting at amazon.com is about whether or not the review helped you decide to purchase the product NOT about whether or not you agree with the reviewer. That's what the comments section is designed for. If you have seen the movie and didn't like it, write a review.

"

Greed, That is. Black Gold. Texas Tea

Chris Pandolfi | Los Angeles, CA | 12/31/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""There Will Be Blood" is probably the absolute best film of the year, and this is due to more than the extraordinary talent of Daniel Day-Lewis. At its core, it tells a story of insatiable greed, of how the lust for absolute power can drive anyone into a state of pure evil. Based on Upton Sinclair's novel "Oil!" the descent of oil tycoon Daniel Plainview (Lewis) is long and slow, but it's definitely constant--he starts off in 1902 with drive, passion, and charisma, only to lose himself to hate, arrogance, and a complete lack of decency by 1927. By the end of the film, absolutely nothing about this man is likeable, and one gets the sense that he wanted it that way all along: "I hate most people," he says at one point. "I look at people and I see nothing worth liking." Here's a character that can't be pitied, simply because he created exactly what he wanted for himself.

The first ten minutes of "There Will Be Blood" contains no dialogue, but it still manages to establish a cohesive story. It begins in 1898, during which a lone prospector digs for oil in the mountainous deserts of Texas. By 1902, an entire team led by Plainview has made camp in the area and has successfully struck oil. One day, a well accident kills one of the workers, leaving an infant boy without his father. For as yet unknown reasons--be they selfless or selfish--Plainview decides to care for the boy and raise him as his own. The story then flashes forward to 1911, which opens with Plainview trying to negotiate a deal with the locals of a small town. When the deal falls through, Plainview is introduced to Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), a young man from a small community called Little Boston; he offers Plainview his family's property in exchange for a handsome sum of money. Apparently, that property is rich with oil.

Without missing a beat, Plainview and his son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), enter Little Boston posing as quail hunters. After discovering that the Sunday property does, indeed, contain oil, and after setting up camp with his team, Plainview gets acquainted with the devoutly religious Sunday family. The son, Eli (also played by Paul Dano), is thought to be a spiritual healer, and he shows this side of himself during some passionate church meetings. He and Plainview share an interesting relationship, to say the least; Plainview initially states that he likes all churches and thus doesn't belong to any specific sect of Christianity, but as the film progresses, it's obvious that church--or more specifically, God--has not and never will be a part of his life. Eli, who believes he has the power to heal his fellow parishioners, falls into disfavor when H.W. has an oil-related accident that can't be healed.

Things take an unexpected turn when a man claiming to be Plainview's long lost half brother enters the picture. His name is Henry (Kevin J. O'Connor), and he's come from a job in New Mexico to be a part of Plainview's life, to work for him and help him find more oil. Something about him clearly isn't right from H.W.'s point of view, and he makes this clear through a drastic act I won't reveal. I will say that, as time goes on, Plainview also begins to suspect Henry, which actually isn't saying a whole lot since his very nature is to be distrustful. One understands this all throughout the film--with even the subtlest of expressions, Plainview can easily express the anger, hostility, and fear that are slowly taking control. It seems all he has left is to let himself be manipulated, especially by Eli: if he wants permission to run an oil pipe through a piece of property he doesn't own, he must agree to be baptized in Eli's church. And as you might expect, Eli will actually be leading the ceremony. Watching Plainview being forced to say things he doesn't believe is a mesmerizing experience, not only because it foreshadows what lies ahead, but also because the scene is incredibly intense.

Pretty much the same thing can be said about the entire film, which thrives on tension despite appearing to be low-key. One of Lewis' expressions is an almost frightening counterpoint to Johnny Greenwood's score, a Bernard Hermann-inspired opus of screeching, tremulous strings. Such music is heard even during the "calmer," "insignificant" moments, such as shots of Plainview walking from one room to another. This would be inappropriate were this any other film. But this isn't any other film; "There Will Be Blood" is all about expressing Plainview's emotional turmoil, and as such, it's easy to believe that he's never had a quiet moment in his head. It's also easy to believe that entering his mind would be one of the most terrifying experiences imaginable, not just because of his contempt for humanity, but also because of the depths to which his contempt will sink him.

The final twenty minutes of this film takes place in 1927, at which point Plainview is more morally than physically aged. He's rich beyond his wildest dreams, yet he's emotionally bankrupt, and this is shown through two brief but significant meetings. I won't describe what happens or reveal whom he speaks to, but I will say he does everything he can to make everyone hate him, including us. In essence, we hate him just as much as he hates himself, which isn't pathetic so much as it's detestable. I realize that such an ending is not a typical crowd pleaser, but considering the story that's being told, typical doesn't apply, here. This goes double for Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, one of the best I've seen in a long time. To sum everything up with a brief phrase, "There Will Be Blood" is an absolutely brilliant film."

The American Dream

MICHAEL ACUNA | Southern California United States | 01/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" is a big bold, eccentric, crazy film, based on Socialist author Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel "Oil," which proposes the thesis that Capitalism brings about positive change but change that ultimately destroys the future: a double edged sword that cut both ways. So much of "TWBB" reminds me of Nathanial West's Hollywood Novels of the 30's like "Miss Lonelyhearts" and "Day of the Locust," novels filled with grotesques and grotesque, outlandish actions. Plainview would fit right in with West's fringe dwellers.At the center of "TWBB" is the towering performance of Daniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview, who at the beginning of the film (1898) is a not very successful Silver miner who ends up by film's end as a just barely holding onto reality, whacked out richest Oilman in California. Lewis's performance is feral, animalistic, and fierce...all squinting eyes, guttural voice and slouching posture: Lewis feels every word he utters throughout his body. He pulls out all the stops and creates a character that resonates with pathos and humanity but his Plainview is also a symbol of a time when it was possible to get ahead by setting goals, setting out into a "new" world, grabbing yourself by the seat of your pants and forcing your will upon others and getting ahead: making money, saving, spending wisely...attaining the so-called American Dream in the sense that James Truslow Adams wrote about it in his "Epic of America" in the 1930's. Lewis's Plainview is Evil personified ("I despise success in others") yet writer/director Anderson has allowed him to have a positive inner life primarily centered on his son who he papalbly adores focusing all of his available adoration on him.Let no one dissuade you from this: Lewis's performance here is on par with Brando's in "Streetcar" or Paul Newman's in "Hud." It's a performance that actors will be referring to for many years to come.Plainview's main antagonist is Paul Dano's Eli Sunday, a young preacher who creates the Church of the Third Revelation in the oil fields. Thomas sets up a battle between the two: the supposedly ultimate Capitalist and the lowly man of God: a kind of Battle of the Titans: Capitalism vs. Evangelism. Their big, penultimate confrontation is as big and bold and over-the-top as even Anderson's own Shower of Frogs in "Magnolia.""There will be Blood" grabs you from the first frame and doesn't let you go until the last frame of the last reel spools out. It is poetic, thoughtful, beautiful in many ways as well as ugly, real, ghoulish in others. Because Anderson's vision here is so aggressively solemn and ominous even Calvinist,"There Will be Blood" will naturally be misunderstood by many but ultimately this film will be remembered and revered for many, many years to come."

Another one impossible to rate

Dr. Christopher Coleman | HONG KONG | 10/01/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There Will Be Blood is another one of those movies that you will either love or hate. Daniel Day Lewis is fantastic in this extensive character study; the acting in general was superb. But the pacing was very peculiar--long passages occur when nothing much happens; and the music was overwhelming more than a few times, literally covering the dialogue. I am a composer myself, and I appreciated the composer's skill, but I think the sound engineer should never work in Hollywood again. All in all, the reviewer below who described this as an "Oily Citizen Kane" was pretty close to the mark, although this movie was more violent. All in all, I was left with too much of a sense that the director was trying too hard to create a film that would last for all time. To my mind, a somewhat more direct method would have made a better film. But perhaps it's me."

There Will Be Blood Movie Review

thejoelmeister | www.GoneWithTheTwins.com | 12/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Featuring a phenomenal performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood brings to life as charismatic and captivating a character as any to grace the screen this year. Comparable to the epic journeys of Charles Foster Kane and Fred C. Dobbs, the mesmerizing progression of Daniel Plainview from prospector to oil entrepreneur and "family man" makes a compelling character study rich with the flaws of greed, hubris, and competition. Traversing several decades of Plainview's struggles with family, the church, and the business he so loves, There Will Be Blood meticulously recreates a time, a place, and a man with feverishly brilliant detail.

In 1898, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a determined prospector who strikes silver in Texas and in subsequent searches discovers oil. By 1911 Plainview is a self-proclaimed "oil man" who operates several wells with his adopted son. When he's approached by Paul Sunday, who swears there is oil literally seeping out of the ground on his father's ranch, Daniel expands his business and begins buying up all of the property in the area. Such aggression doesn't go unnoticed however, and the ambitious businessman soon finds himself at odds with larger oil companies and the fanatical local church led by the guileful Eli Sunday (Paul Dano).

The music by composer Jonny Greenwood is sensational, and perfectly complements every scene. At times the violins screech like a frenetic horror film, amplifying the atrocities of Plainview versus himself or presiding over introductions to marked location shifts, and at others it is melodic and impassioned, contrasting the contemplation of despicable character choices. Music plays during most of the film, tying together speechless segments and narrating the tone of conversations. Beautifully orchestrated, it is ever-present and manifest, but never interrupts the visuals onscreen.

Religion plays a strikingly offbeat role in the film, primarily in the form of Eli Sunday. A truly fanatical leader and a proclaimed "false" prophet, Eli attempts to further himself and his church through interfering with Daniel's oil prospects. Although Plainview is also unscrupulous and irrational, Eli's unbalanced preacher role is so immoderate that it clearly displays religion as discordantly nonsensical. His performance is obsessively masterly, and his comeuppance at the conclusion packs a bigger punch than this year's Michael Clayton, with its undeniable crowd-pleasing finale.

Daniel will do anything for his oil pipeline, symbolizing the idea of wealth and perseverance as opposed to necessity, including receiving a baptism in Eli's Church, an act he loathes. Grimacing through the entire derisory process, with which Eli takes perverse pleasure in tormenting the unbelieving Daniel, he gets his pipeline and later his revenge.

Daniel Day-Lewis embodies Plainview with such passion, authenticity and an overwhelming screen presence that an Academy Award certainly won't elude him. His dismal declension from a two-faced, shrewd businessman to an emotionally unstable soulless shell, who can barely stay sober and who, despite having everything has lost everything worthwhile, is effortlessly the greatest of this year. Comparison to Citizen Kane is natural due to Plainview's downward-spiraling character arc and his aberrant greed slowly separating him from humanity, but There Will Be Blood covers ground that Orson Welles' masterpiece approached dissimilarly- the love of his son and the times they spent together replace Kane's cherishing of his childhood.

Daniel's separation from his child both physically and emotionally doesn't come entirely from avarice, but from Daniel's inability to enjoy other's company sincerely. He hates most man and sees the evil in everyone, a self-loathing complex that causes his brash decisions to steadily become more volatile. "I have a competition in me," Daniel seethes. "I want no one else to succeed." Never forgiving himself and unable to deal with his son's deafness and his decision to ignore it, like Kane there is nothing but tragedy waiting for Daniel. He is unable to revisit the love he once possessed for his son and abandons everyone and everything in the pursuit of his fortune. Likely never fully realizing that his greed has distanced him from humanity, Plainview finishes with so much and yet so little.